All's Fair in Love and War with Heartless
by Oe98
Summary: A time after KH2, where Kairi has been taken by the darkness and Sora can no longer summon the keyblade. While Riku does all that he can to stay in the light, Sora falls into a depressed state that he can't get out of. RxS, SxK, and others Ratd 4 ftr chs
1. A Phone Call

Author's Note: I would like to inform all my readers that I do not own Kingdom Hearts, any of it's original characters, and/or any characters associated with it i.e. Jack Skellington from Tim Burton's The Nightmare Before Christmas. I am NOT making any money off of this story and I cantwrit3, a.k.a. Oe98 will never sell this fanfic for any kind of profit or anything else like that.

Also, there are SPOILERS FOR ANYONE WHO HAS NOT PLAYED KINGDOM HEARTS 1, CoM, OR 2. I ask that you review my work and help me ADVANCE as an "artist of words" I like saying that more than "writer". This is the first fanfic that I have tried and looks to me like it will not crash-and-burn before I actually finish it. This is also only the prologue to the longer story so it will not be very long, you get the picture. Thank you for reading!

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-BRRP BRRP!- -BRRP BRRP!-

"Wha-?" Said the terracotta haired boy as he picked up the phone. "Who's calling? What time is it?" He looked at the clock on the nightstand next to his bed, "What in the nether world?" It was 2:30 in the morning.

"Sora. Sora, don't freak out on me, okay?" The brunette recalled someone with that very same voice. It was the calm, sexy voice of one of his best friends, Riku.

"What- Why are you calling me at this hour?" Sora was surprised at the unexpected call.

"Oh, sorry. I forgot of the time differences between us." There was a short yet awkward pause between the two boys. "Sora, you remember where I am right?" Another pause, longer than the first, "Sora? Are you-?"

"Oh yeah!" Sora screamed so loud that there was an audible wince of pain coming from the speaker in the phone. "You went to Halloween Town to help out Jack fend off the heartless, right!?"

"Ow, and yes, I did." There was an obvious hint of annoyance towards Riku's friend. "Like I said before, you should have come too, it would have been so much ea-"

"I couldn't, remember? I was in Radiant Garden until just yesterday, I was there when you were informed about Halloween Town." He said with a splash of innocence and I-know-you-know. Riku sighed.

"Well, I'm calling to tell you that everything here's okay now, the heartless are down to a reasonable number and Halloween Town's being secured as we speak. Also," Riku hesitated for an instant, "Kairi was spotted in-"

"What!?" Sora interrupted. "You saw Kairi!? Where? Was she taken again? Or did she-?"

"Sora, she was taken away by the darkness, again."

"And you didn't try to-?"

"Sora-there-was-nothing-I-could-have-done," Riku said matter-of-factly, ending Sora's rant. "I think you should get down here, Sally was the one who saw her, but she said she would only talk to you about it." It was obvious to Sora that he shouldn't stay in Destiny Islands, but there was nothing he could do.

"I'll leave to go in the morning. The pathways are too dangerous to travel, without a keyblade, at night." Sora said regretfully. They said their good-byes and Sora tried to go back to sleep. But no matter what he did, Sora could not calm himself down enough to actually fall asleep. After about an hour, or what seemed like an hour to Sora, he went down to the beach, to listen to the waves.

On the way there all Sora could think about was what Kairi has gone through. In the beginning, her heart had been ripped from her body, then found it's way into Sora's, and her body was empty. She was later found by Sora in Neverland. Where she was taken by Riku to Hollow Bastion, now known as Radiant Garden. Sora released his heart and with it Kairi's, however, he was turned into a heartless, later returned to his self by Kairi. The two were separated after defeating Ansem's heartless, who was really Xehanort's heartless, she in Destiny Islands, and he in the world of King Mickey, Disney Castle. For some strange reason though, Sora has no memory of his adventure, or at least he thinks it was an adventure, in the fields that surrounded Disney Castle. He figures he hit his head hard on a bolder or something. After about a year after he sealed the Door to Darkness, he began the fight against Organization XIII. Which reunited him one again with both Riku and Kairi. After defeating the Organization, and returning to Destiny Islands, Kairi found a letter from the King. After responding to the letter, there was a great battle and in the process, and Kairi had gone "MIA." The King went to go find her in the darkness and has not returned since. However, that was two years ago, Sora's seventeen now, and Kairi had been spotted for the first time since she's been missing. How was he, Sora, suppose to "wait till morning"? When he hasn't been able to summon the keyblade since Kairi's disappearance?

He sat down on the sand, closed his sky-blue eyes, and smelled the salty air. That's when it came to him, the keyblade, Kairi, they must be connected. How, he didn't know. Perhaps the keyblade was trying to tell him something? Perhaps since he's been so depressed now that Kairi's gone, the keyblade has felt him...unworthy? There would be no way for him, or anyone for that matter, to tell until he got to Halloween Town at dawn...Three hours from now.


	2. A Visit

AN: Once again, I do not own Kingdom Hearts, and/or any of the characters associated with it. Sorry, but I do not know who does. I just know it's a great game. There are some spoilers similar to the prologue, you have been warned. I do not guarantee that all the buildings and features and such are 50-100 correct. Sorry. I ask again that you review and help me advance as a writer...Thank you, cantwrit3 a.k.a. Oe98 a.k.a. Sora-kun.

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Sora was woken up by the rising sun. He had stayed at the warm beach all night, pondering about Kairi and the keyblade. He sat up and noticed he had an ominous black blanket around him. 'Where did this come from?' He wondered. He looked out towards the sea and saw a few fish jump out of the water in random places.

"Well, I guess I should get ready then, huh?" He asked the blades of grass around him, rubbing his eyes he got up. Then, taking the blanket with him, he strolled back to his room on Destiny Islands.

He could come up with no explanation to his theory about Kairi's possible connection to the keyblade except a few: That the keyblade had left Sora for Kairi when Sora was depressed, perhaps because her heart had been inside Sora's, he had pondered if the keyblade went to a remnant of his heart that was connected to Kairi's, but after an hour he decided that he would have felt something if a piece of his heart had been stripped away. Or perhaps because Kairi is a Princess of Heart, the keyblade needs to protect her any way it can. And leaving Sora was the only way to do it. He was still thinking of Kairi's connection when he heard a voice coming from behind him:

"Sora! Sora!" Sora quickly turned around to see who was calling out to him, thinking it was Kairi, but he didn't see anyone. The voice was faint anyway, so Sora played it off like he was just hearing things again. He kept moving. "Sora! Down here Sora!" He turned around once again, only this time Sora looked down.

"Jiminy?!" He was very exited to see his friend once again. "Why are you-"

"Sora there's no time to explain," said the little cricket quickly. "I'm sorry Sora, but we have to leave now." He was completely out of breath.

"Jiminy, what's wrong? I can't go with you, I have to go to Halloween Town while the sun's still up." He said as he pointed straight up to the sky. He was worried about his friends, but he was also worried about Kairi, one of his best friends.

"Sora-we-have-to-go-to-Halloween-Town-right-wait...what?"

"I said I have to go to Halloween Town because Kairi was spotted yesterday." Sora said matter-of-factly.

"Oh, good. That's what I was saying...Kairi...Riku asked us to escort you to Halloween Town since...well...you know...?" He was referring to Sora's keyblade issues, and Sora knew it. Sora folded the blanket he had and, since it was getting smaller and smaller with every fold unlike a normal blanket, put it in his pocket. He then gestured to Jiminy to jump onto his shoulder.

"Let's stop wasting our time then and go. Wait," Sora stated as he realized something, "what do you mean by 'us'?" Jiminy was about to answer him when there was a loud explosion on the other side of the island, accompanied by two screams that sounded very familiar. "Donald?! Goofy!" Sora raced to the other side of the island, towards the pillar of smoke that climbed from the dense forest. He jumped passed over the entrance to the Secret Place and went into the forest. He weaved around trees and jumped over bushes. Thankfully he still had some talents from his last adventure, he could jump very high and zoom about 5-7 feet in front of him in an instant, which helped him get through the forest very easily. As he was making his way through the tall trees Donald and Goofy were yelling as if they were fighting a difficult opponent. 'Keep fighting guys,' he thought, 'help is on the way.' It took him about a half hour to get to them, mainly because he couldn't see that well as it was still dark in the forest, and he kept hearing their screams at different places were it was before. But then he got caught in a thick fog-like smoke.

"Do you know where we are Sora?" Whispered Jiminy in between coughs.

"No." Sora's eyes were burning, and he didn't hear Donald or Goofy anymore, and he was completely lost in this strange forest of tan trees with violet leaves. "Are we even on Destiny Islands anymore Jiminy?" There was no answer from his shoulder. "Jiminy?" Sora looked around to see if his friend had fallen off him somewhere. "Jiminy!?" There was an echo throughout the forest. Sora was dreadfully frightened now and he was turning around in circles.

"Sora!" That voice. "Sora, help me!" Wasn't he still on Destiny Islands? "Sora I'm scared!" How could she possibly be here? "Sora! Riku...! Pluto!?" Sora ran towards the voice, but for some reason the smoke was not affecting him, except for the fact he couldn't speak. "Sora! Where did you go!?" He kept running towards the voice, as if it was all he could do. "Ahhhhh!" She screamed. Sora quickened his stride, and tripped over a log. He would have made some kind of yelp, but the smoke refused to let go of his voice. "Sora!" Sora stood up with his eyes closed tight.

"K-"

"Sora!" Jiminy interrupted. Sora opened his eyes. "Sora! Down here, Sora!" He was at the beach again, with that blanket in his hands.

"Jiminy?" He said as he turned around to look at his cricket friend. "What-?"

"Sora! Listen. Kairi's been spotted-"

"In Halloween Town. Yeah, I know." Sora looked around. "Are Donald and Goofy with you?" Jiminy had a look of shock on his face.

"Um, yes. You know about Kai-"

"Yeah, didn't we already have this conversation before?" Jiminy was bewildered.

"Sora, are you oka-" There was a loud crash behind Sora. Who turned around and spotted a short duck and a tall dog AN: Sorry about this but I'm not sure if Goofy's a dog or a platypus x) Once again, sorry..

"Donald! Goofy!" He shouted smiling ear-to-ear with enthusiasm and glee. But then he saw the swarm of Shadows following the fleeing pair. "What!? How did-?"

"There's no time to explain!" Donald shouted as Goofy tripped over something, who then got up and continued retreating. "We havftoo get out of 'ere!" Sora dropped the blanket, picked up Jiminy, who was still in shock of Heartless being in Destiny Islands again, and ran with Donald and Goofy when they got up to him.

"Where's the gummiship?" Asked Sora as they ran out of the beach and onto the bridge to the smaller island off the coast. "How'd you guys-?"

"Sorry Sora," started Goofy, "that, well y'know. We're late." Sora noticed he had a sincere look of apology on his face as they reached the palms of the smaller island, only confusing him more. The trio faced back to back to back in a triangular formation, unsheathing their weapons, Donald a wand with a sorcerer's hat on the tip, Goofy a large shield with the King's emblem in the center, and Sora...well, Sora had a pair of maroon leather handled knives that were given to him by the King himself, he trained himself every day with the six inch silver serrated weapons, but he was still a novice to using them.

"Donald! When are we gonna get out of here!" Sora shouted as the Shadows closed in on them, popping out of the ground encircling them. Donald didn't respond, instead he attacked the Shadows on his side with a few Thundaga spells. And Goofy attacked with his shield, knocking many Heartless back and ending just as many simultaneously, and the Shadows in front of Sora leaped into action. Sora could hardly keep up, he was attacking the solidified darkness with all he could, but that was not enough. Many of the Heartless had given him deep wounds and he gave himself one or two lacerations. Thankfully Donald and Goofy were there with him, because in between attacks Donald would cast Curaga upon the party, as he thought necessary, and Goofy attacked the Shadows behind the ones attacking Sora directly, decreasing the amount Sora had to eliminate. After a few minutes into the battle, Sora heard something like the gummiship above him. He would have looked up if he wasn't putting all his effort into his attacks, his spells were all but useless nowadays.

"Sora!" Shouted Donald. "We can go now, but if we leave-"

"I know!" Sora had already came to this conclusion, "This place could go- ahh!" He had been struck by a Shadow on his left shoulder, after which he countered and destroyed the creature. "Could go into the darkness again!" He finished as he struck another Heartless with one of his knives. Donald recognized the sign from Sora that he was aware of his home world's fate, and, after casting reflectaga, reached into his pocket and pulled out a small device with a single red button on it, and clicked the button.

The next thing any of them knew, they were all aboard the gummiship once again. Donald the seat to the left of the pilot's chair, Goofy in the chair right of the pilot's, and Sora directly behind the pilot's chair.

"So, are we all set to go?" Said the pilot. However, Sora did not recognize the woman's voice. It was smooth with a force of authority, and yet reminded him of someone he knew, who this person he was being reminded of however, he did not know. "Well then, let's go." The woman then turned around, and Sora saw part of her face as she was switching necessary dials and levers.

"Tifa?!" Sora muttered in surprise. The woman had no time to greet him for the gummiship had already taken off, and their heads met their chairs quite quickly, Sora thought heard something snap. However, the inertial force quieted down after a second or two, and Sora, who was in a state of shock didn't hear the people speaking to him.

"...are you okay?" Sora heard Goofy ask who could only be Sora himself. "Sora...Sora?" The brown haired young man finally snapped out of it.

"Goofy?"

"There ya go," Tifa said. "Told you he was alright." She looked at Sora without turning her neck more than an inch, "So kid, are ya up to go on another adventure?"

"Why-?" Sora started. "Why are-"

"Why'm I here? Isn't it obvious?" At this point she turned at the hip to look at the young hero, "I've been with these two for quite some time-"

"Shhh! It's a secret!" Donald shouted at the black haired woman.

"'Secret'?" Goofy wondered aloud, "Weren't we planing on telling him anyway Donald?" At this the duck simply turned the other cheek. Tifa cleared her throat.

"Anyways," she started with a small sense of annoyance, "I've been with these two for a while now. They've been looking for someone too," she indicated Donald and Goofy. "I met up with them and I asked for a ride, I've been with them ever since."

"Looking for Cloud?" Sora intervened, expecting her to be finished at that point.

"Yes, actually. You know him? Oh yeah, you were the one who helped me out in Radiant Garden a few years ago, right?" She added, to which Sora nodded.

"Wait," the brunette added, "who were you guys looking for with Tifa?" He asked looking back and forth from Donald to Goofy and back again. His first thought was Kairi, but then he realized they'd be more inclined to look for the King. Sora was about to say something else, but at that point their ship jolted sharply to the left.

"Ahh!" They all shouted together, "Donald! Goofy!" Cried Tifa, "Get ready to land!"

"What's going o-!" Sora couldn't finish his statement, he saw the world below, and noticed that it was Halloween Town. He didn't care what was happening, as long as he just got there safely across the Ocean of Stars. Tifa was taking evasive maneuvers around various objects and enemies, and Goofy was flipping switches Sora never noticed before. Sora was clamping himself down onto the seat the only way he could, grabbing onto the seat with his hands for dear life. He glanced over at Donald, who was rummaging through a random bag that was insignificant compared to what was happening.

"Donald!" Tifa shouted over her shoulder, "Get ready, we're almost there!" Unfortunately for the quartet she spoke too soon, for there was a nearly fatal attack upon the gummiship by a Heartless vessel. Which threw them off course. "Donald, now!" Tifa shouted as loud as she could amidst the chaos. The terracotta haired boy did not see Donald pushing the red button once again, but he figured it out on his own, because the next thing Sora knew he was an undead vampire with a pumpkin over his right eye. Tifa, Donald, and Goofy were no where in sight.


End file.
